The Hindu : Sport / Football : Aston Villa upset

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 28, 2004

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Sport - Football

Aston Villa upset

LONDON, OCT. 27. Alan Smith and Liam Miller scored a goal each on Tuesday as Manchester United beat Crewe Alexandra 3-0 in the third round of the League Cup, while a strong Aston Villa was upset by lower-ranked Burnley.

Two days after a bruising 2-0 win over Arsenal, a completely different United played against the Football League Championship side in England's second-string knockout competition.

Smith opened the scoring in the 10th minute, Miller added the second in the 57th and Stephen Foster gifted United its third two minutes later with an own-goal.

The game marked the return of American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who has been pushed out of the first team by Roy Carroll.

Howard performed well after being was forced into a series of strong saves against a spirited Crewe side.

Howard made some big mistakes early in the season and lost the starting job after a 2-2 Champions League draw with Lyon in September. Carroll has started every game since.

Aston Villa lost 3-0 to division one Burnley — a result manager David O'Leary called ``embarrassing''. Graham Branch opened for Burnley, and while Robbie Blake missed a penalty, Mo Camara and Jean Louis Valois scored to seal the win.

Villa got an 81st-minute consolation goal from Juan Pablo Angel.

``We didn't come here to fill this competition, that was the best side we could field and we came here to win,'' O'Leary said.

The results:

League Cup (Third round): Nottingham Forest bt Doncaster 2-0; Watford bt Sheffield United 4-2; Cardiff bt Bournemouth 5-4; Burnley bt Aston Villa 3-1; Manchester United bt Crewe lost 3-0; Liverpool bt Millwall 3-0; Portsmouth bt Leeds 2-1.

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